


Honey Laughs

by Autumnalpalmetto



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: F/M, Getting Together, Meet-Cute, dogs and puppies, grumpy aaron, petstore au, southern katelyn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:27:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25685785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Autumnalpalmetto/pseuds/Autumnalpalmetto
Summary: Aaron volunteers at a petstore, taking dogs outside to play five days a week to take care of his community service credit and get away from his family for a little while. Katelyn happens to work there and worms her way into his heart.
Relationships: Katelyn/Aaron Minyard
Comments: 9
Kudos: 32
Collections: AFTG Bingo Blackout 2020 - Cupcakes, All For The Game Bingo 2020





	Honey Laughs

**Author's Note:**

> Pet Store Au for the AFTG Bingo

The pet store smelled like stale wood shavings, always one step away from being uncleanly. Cute rabbits and guinea pigs took up the large front window in their run. A little albino bun popped its head out of the hut on the second floor of the rabbit run when Aaron walked by, a mix of curious and shy. Aaron had no idea how they made any money when they treated their animals so well.

He walked up to the front counter and checked in with the owner. Today it was Alice, holding a snake on her arm, letting it wind its way up into her hair. Her husband Greg was probably nearby with a bird on his shoulder like a pirate. They were the kind of people who cared more about the animals than they did making money. 

“We got a new puppy,” Alice said without looking up at him as she handed him the keys to the dog room. “He’ll be up in the apartment until he gets his shots tomorrow, but you can go up and see him if you want.”

“Maybe,” Aaron said, turning and walking to the back of the store. 

There was no way he was going into their home, sitting right above the store, but he always said maybe. Volunteering at the pet store started as a way to get out of the dorm room, and away from his brother for an hour and a half five nights a week. It had the added bonus of taking care of the community service credit his liberal arts college required. Aaron had been surprised to learn that he actually liked dogs, and hanging out with them so often helped his mood more than he wanted to admit. 

The older dogs went out first, they were only two or three years old, still puppies to most people, but they hated being in the yard at the same time as the actual puppies. There was a big difference between three months old and three years old. Aaron watched them wander around the yard, roughhousing and causing mayhem for a good twenty minutes before he called them back inside. They walked straight to the viewing room without being asked, routine set in stone after so long with Aaron. 

“Play nice,” Aaron said as he closed the door behind them. Through the window, he could see them all settling down for naps on the plethora of dog beds. “Sleep tight babies.”

The puppies were next, and a lot more work. Eight little dogs barked at him as soon as they caught sight of him, all attacking his ankles when he opened the door to their pen. They followed him out into the yard, tripping over each other in their excitement, getting in fights, and then barking again. Aaron picked up the biggest instigator, and the rest followed, trying to get their brother back from him. 

Aaron sat on the grass, setting the chubby baby down with his siblings. They all climbed on his lap, falling over each other again and again. One chewed on his hand while another made it her mission to eat his hair, not that she’d ever be able to reach it. She sat down and whined at him until he picked her up and lifted her high enough to make a solid attempt at his hair. Once it was in her mouth she backed down, sticking her tongue out and licking at the air trying to get it out. 

“Hair in your mouth isn’t as pleasant as you thought it would be, is it Rapunzel?” Aaron asked the cute puppy staring back at him in shock. 

Aaron froze as a giggle came from the doorway. A girl was standing there, watching him play with the dogs. He had a few classes with her, enough that he should know her name, but he made a point not to learn the names of pretty girls his brother would disapprove of. 

“Her name is Gracey,” the girl said. Aaron thought she might be a cheerleader or something.

Aaron also made it a point not to learn the names of the dogs, they would all be adopted out by the end of the month, it was easier not to get attached. 

“Okay, you can call her wherever you want to,” Aaron said rudely. “I like to name them myself.”

“Aaron, right?” Her voice was soft and pleasant, she drew out his name with a southern drawl sweeter than honey. “We have bio together.”

Aaron nodded. “And Calc 2.”

She entered the yard and held out a hand to him. “Katelyn.”

“Aaron.”

“I know that, sweetheart.” Katelyn smiled at him as his heart skipped a beat. Pretty girl, calling him sweetheart while holding his hand. There was a first for everything. She laughed and Aaron forgot to listen to what she said next. 

“I’m fixin’ to take a break.” Katelyn sat down next to him, not at all bothered by the three dogs that climbed into her lap at the same time. “Mind if I sit with you?”

Aaron nodded, finally putting Rapunzel down. He was distracted when one of the puppies bit his shoelace and pulled on it, untying it in one move. The distraction was a welcome one, with his fair skin there was no way Katelyn missed the way he blushed from his head to his toes. She didn’t call him out on it, but he had excuses ready if she did later. The sun was out; it was hot and muggy, he’d worn a sweater so he was extra warm with those two things combined. All perfectly logical reasons for his face to turn redder than a tomato. 

Katelyn didn’t try to talk to him again. All they did was sit in silence and play with the little devils. Puppies, the little puppies. She had to go in before he did, offering him a cocky smile and a wink of her way out, proving she had caught his blush even though she didn’t point it out to him. Aaron decided he was not going to talk to her again. Girls like her were too dangerous for boys like him. All honey voices, cocky smiles, saying just the right pet name to make him melt. He had a deal to hold up with his brother, no dating until after college. 

Honestly, that deal was probably a good thing. He needed a 4.0 if he wanted to get into an excellent med school, and a girlfriend would just distract him. His free time was already limited thanks to Exy, there was no room in his schedule for anything other than class, practice, homework, and volunteering. Andrew’s deal was ridiculous, but it was very logical, school and family was more important than dating.

Katelyn didn’t get the memo, however. She sat next to him on her break every day. Somehow they had the same schedule, Sunday - Thursday after practice. Aaron knew how, it was because they had the same practice and game schedule, but it still annoyed him to no end. She came outside and interrupted his puppy time, acting like she belonged there. There was a break room, for fuck’s sake. A break room with coffee and candy and the most comfortable couches Aaron had ever seen. Alice and Greg were once again focused on the animal and the people more than the profits and that should not have been annoying but it was because Katelyn didn’t even use the damn room. Aaron did, sometimes he’d stay late and do his homework there if the weather was bad or he was having a particularly rough day and didn’t want to be around his upbeat cousin and deadbeat brother. 

The most annoying thing about Katelyn—other than when she called him darlin’ or sweetheart—was that she seemed to enjoy sitting out there with him and the dogs, even though he ignored her. A week turned into three, turned into five, turned into going on winter break and coming back only to find her waiting outside for him already. 

He hated it. 

He didn’t hate it at all. 

She was pretty and nice, and she knew so much about dogs that Aaron swore she’d be pre-vet, but no, she was premed like him. He only learned that because she talked to him the entire time they were outside after they came back from winter break. 

The dogs were the highlight of his day for the first half of the school year. Katelyn was the highlight of his day in the second half of the school year. 

“Hey Aaron,” Katelyn said from the fluffy couch when Aaron was walking out to leave. 

It started pouring rain when he was outside with the puppies, a new batch he had never worked with before. He felt terrible for the little babies and had stayed late to help warm them up. Normally he left around the time Katelyn started the second half of her shift since she actually worked there. It was weird to be leaving at the same time she was. 

“Did you turn in your lap report yet?”

Aaron sat down next to her, waiting for Andrew to text him he was there. Normally he would have walked back to the campus, but it was still pouring rain and it had already soaked him once that day. 

“Yeah,” Aaron answered. That’s all he would say to her. 

“Can you help me?” She pulled her lab notebook out of her bag and handed it to him. “My catalyst didn’t work right or something. I don’t know, I was super sick that day and I had to do the experiment anyway because the make up lab was the same day as the away game.”

Aaron flipped through her notebook, reading her methods carefully. He spotted where she went wrong immediately. She cut the measurement for the most important ingredient in half in the prep. It didn’t matter that she’d done everything else correctly, there was no way to fix that. He explained her mistake to her, then explained how to write her report so she’d still get a decent grade on it. 

His phone rang as he handed the notebook back to her and he ran out the door, ignoring her thanks. 

After that, something changed. Aaron started talking to her when she sat in the dog yard with him, then he chose her as his lab partner for the final project. He justified it by telling himself he only chose her because she had the second-highest grade in the class after him, but if he was honest, he would have chosen her even if she was failing. It gave them an excuse to hang out in the library together after their shifts at the pet store. Andrew never questioned it because Aaron had done the same thing with all of his other lab partners. Lying to Andrew was dangerous, but even more than that, it was exhilarating. Technically, he was not doing anything wrong; they weren’t dating.

It all came to a head the day they turned their final lab reports in. Katelyn invited him out to ice cream and he said yes, fully knowing it sounded like a date. 

Aaron had never smiled as freely as he did when Katelyn got ice cream on her nose. He wiped it off with his thumb, then stuck his thumb in his mouth like some sort of creeper. Katelyn loved it. Her honey-sweet laugh bounced off the walls, brightening up Aaron’s life. 

For the first time in years, the sun was shining on Aaron. Nothing could ruin that moment. 

On the way out of the ice cream parlor, Katelyn wrapped her arm around him, pulling him close and kissing him on the cheek as they walked. She laughed in his ear when he blushed, then kissed him again in the same spot. He turned to look at her, dazed and clueless, completely surprised when her next kiss landed on his lips. It wasn’t a good kiss by any means. He smiled instead of kissing her back, and she giggled with her lips still pressed against his.

It wasn’t a good kiss, but it was perfect.


End file.
